Thursday, 6 August 2015

Belloc's Mill

Dial Post Cottage

A few years back the old mill at
Shipley sadly closed its doors to the visiting public when the charitable trust
running it were told that their lease would not be renewed. The mill was in full working order at the
time and had been made famous during the 1990s as the home of Jonathan
Creek. We had visited the mill in the
last few weeks of it being open but not been near it since. We thought that it would be good to explore
the area courtesy of walk 16 in Pathfinder Guide West Sussex and the South Downs.

Thistle

As I wasn’t sure whether it was
still possible to park at the mill since it closed, our walk started at Dial
Post. It was a beautiful summer day,
quite unlike the weather forecast which we had been promised which was dire. Our route initially took us along a farm road
west out of the village hemmed in on both sides by large hedges. The hedgerows were full of life with plenty
of wildflowers, butterflies and other buzzing insects.

Blue Skies

Eventually we came to Bentons
Place Farm, a very well appointed looking place that seemed to be hosting some
kind of function. Looking at how well
manicured some of the buildings were here I also imagined that some are holiday
lets or weekend retreats. Some rather
well dressed looking people said hello to us as we passed. Further along the track we missed the turning
that we should have taken and ended up on the road just beyond. When we retraced our steps it was not
surprising we missed it for the turning was quite overgrown.

Vantage Point

We crossed a small stream via a
ramshackle looking old footbridge and came out on to a bridle path beyond that
had all the appearances of a road that had never quite managed to make it to
the tarmac era. The packed lunch that we
had brought on our walk was already calling to the children at this point and
so we found a suitable spot to eat it.
Fortunately it was not quite wasp and fly season and so we managed to
eat without being bothered too much by flying insects.

View From Tree Platform

Feeling fortified we continued on
our way along the path. The path had
wide verges suggesting that it may once have had a more important purpose. After half a mile or so we came to a most
unusual feature, when we spotted a tree platform with a set of steps up to
it. We eagerly climbed up to look at the
view but to be honest it wasn’t as good as you might think as mostly all we
could see were other trees! The main
purpose of the platform is for wildlife watchers but there was precious little
about for us to view. Perhaps it is a
better facility when there is less foliage on the trees?

Shipley Mill

A little further on and the path
changed nature, becoming narrower and I suspect quite muddy during the winter
judging by the ruts in the dry track. As
we rounded the next corner we came upon a small group of deer browsing in the
hedgerow. They didn’t stick around long
when they saw us! Down one side of the path
was a very large deer fence – they are obviously not welcome in the surrounding
agricultural land.

Shady Horses

At a road ahead the path
dog-legged but largely kept in the same direction although it got ever narrower
until we reached the smock mill at Shipley.
The mill was built in 1879 and was owned for many years by Hilaire
Belloc, noted early 20th Century writer and MP. Following his death in 1953 the mill was
restored to working order in his honour after a period of dereliction. The mill was leased to a charitable trust
until 2009 and opened to the public until then, when the doors closed. The mill is now in private ownership and off
limits to any visitors. It does look in
much better shape now though than it did the last time I passed when the sails
were off. It gleamed in the sunshine and
looked resplendent.

Knepp Castle

After passing the windmill we
continued along the road through the village.
It is a very attractive village and has not been subjected to much in
the way of new development unlike some of its neighbouring places. The gardens were well tended and there were
quite a few people around looking after them.
We passed by almost unnoticed and out into a neighbouring field where we
found some friendly horses seeking some attention from the girls. Luckily they weren’t as insistent as the one
we met the other week near Warninglid!

Knepp Lodge

We passed through a small wood
and crossed another road to enter the parkland of Knepp Castle. The present day Knepp Castle is a rebuild of
a castle built in 1812 but which burned down in 1904. An earlier mediaeval castle ruin also exists
at the other end of the estate but all that is left is a fragment of wall. We did not pass that castle on this
walk. The modern day Knepp Castle is at
the centre of an interesting estate for the parkland is not managed in the same
way as many other country houses of this ilk.
The owners have tried to revert much of the estate back to grassland using
natural methods after much of it was converted to arable farming due to World
War II. Our first impressions though
were of a traditional parkland with large trees dotted across a landscape where
you expect to see groups of browsing deer.

Kneppmill Pond

The path passes the castle at
some distance away and out past a rather lovely looking lodge house. We wandered down to Kneppmill Pond, a surprisingly
large body of water. Inevitably this was
once a hammer pond for the Wealden Iron Age industry. Now it is a calm oasis with plenty of
wildflowers around the edge. The water
looked quite appealing with reflections of the big puffy clouds overhead.

Longhorn Cows

We turned back towards the road
we had crossed earlier and passed a couple having a rather lovely looking
picnic. They were well advised to stay
this end of the field for at the other end was a very large herd of cattle
including a very large bull. We gave
them a wide berth, staying on the opposite side of a dry ditch in case anything
untoward happened. We needn’t have
worried as they largely ignored us.
Nevertheless it was a relief when we crossed a bridge over the rather
dry looking River Adur. Only a small
channel was flowing although the floodplain suggested that flooding does happen
here during the winter months.

Painted Lady

On the other side of the Adur we
then crossed a rather overgrown field where we finally saw a large herd of
deer. We had been expecting to see one
all this time without previous success.
The group here though were quite relaxed – safety in numbers I
guess? It was out onto the road and a
short stretch of road walking before the last stretch back to Dial Post.

River Adur

The last part of the walk crossed
farmland and through a couple of farms.
I cannot say that the countryside was anything special although it was very
pleasant walking country. A couple of
things caught my eye on the way back – a campsite populated with yurts and lots
of butterflies especially small tortoiseshells.
Otherwise the heat was rather getting to us and so when we got back to
Dial Post we dived into the beer garden of the Crown and had ourselves a nice
long cold drink.

Deer

I have to say that much of this
walk was rather ordinary but saved by the sights of Shipley Mill and Knepp
Castle which are memorable sights.
Seeing the group of deer was a sight that my children very much
enjoyed. On the whole though I am not
sure I would be in a great hurry to do this particular walk again.

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